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Favourite martial arts book?

For the recommended section, I thought it would be good if everyone listed there favourite martial arts book. It could make an interesting list for people to scan through and to see if there were any obvious gaps in their libraries.

Here is the one and only rule: You are only allowed ONE favourite book!

I want to know what single book you would recommend others read. That way we make a collective reading list as opposed to a personal one. It also does not matter if someone else has listed your favourite already, you should still put your personal favourite as the more entries a book gets the more popular it obviously is.

It changes every few years what my favorite book is. Right now I would have to say Taegeuk Cipher by Simon John O`Neil for Taekwondo. If it has to be about Karate (This being a forum that mainly discusses Karate and all) I have to say Bunkai Jutsu by Iain Abernethy (my copy has been read so much that it barly holds itself together.),

Probably not the cup of tea for all the pragmatists out there, but my personal favourite Martial Arts book remains Aikido and Dynamic Sphere by Westbrook and Rati. It's very well written and very thorough. OK, it's probably not very useful if you aren't studying Aikido, but if you are, or if you just have an interest, I don't think there's a better book.

Damn fine book. For those that haven't read it, you can argue if it is or isn't a "Martial Arts book" as it's story of the author's year in Tokyo teaching English. He just happens to take up Yoshinkan Aikido. His Aikido is what most of the book becomes about. Probably because of the author's literary education, this book is excellently written. It's enthralling at times. He discusses the death of the head of the style and various serious injuries to his training partners. It also inadvertedly tells you a lot about Japanese culture and thinking. I keep intending to re-read it.

Sorry, interrupting the thread there, but I had to endorse this recommendation.

Claret and Cross-Buttocks or Rafferty's Prize-Fighters by Joe Robinson

Rare now but worth the money if you can find one.

"Those who scrap in the streets and bars are fools. They fight only in gangs like cowards and lynchers. If your pride's hurt, offer them the chalk. Do it properly. See how many are prepared to take ye on fair and square with a crowd watchin'. That's the real test of a man"

"Those who scrap in the streets and bars are fools. They fight only in gangs like cowards and lynchers. If your pride's hurt, offer them the chalk. Do it properly. See how many are prepared to take ye on fair and square with a crowd watchin'. That's the real test of a man"

Without question if I could only recommend one book it would have to be Dead or Alive by Geoff Thompson.

It has completely changed the way I view Martial Arts and Self Defence. Like many I made the mistake of thinking they were one in the same, and spent the years I was doing karate not understanding how what I did in the dojo equated to what happened in “the street”. (You have to remember these where the days before the internet, so I didn't have people like Iain explainign things pragmatically). Although I no longer train Karate I now know that when training in my chosen art, in the dojo I am having fun performing a MA and only a very small percentage of it is relevant to SD. My SD training is now separate to my MA.

It has also made a huge difference to my life. Being only 165cm and 60kgs I was never truly comfortable in pubs. Upon reading this book a few years ago I have since been able to fully relax. The paranoia and fear of confrontation no longer affects me, as I would know what to do, and not knowing what to do if confronted was half the problem. I have used the techniques in the book numerous times to stop confrontations in their infancy from escalating. Being small just the setion on eye contact challenergs alone has been priceless.